PEEL Police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy 2018/19
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PEEL Police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy 2018/19 An inspection of Nottinghamshire Police
Contents
What this report contains 1
Force in context 3
Overall summary 4
Effectiveness 7
Force in context 8
How effectively does the force reduce crime and keep people safe? 10
Summary 10
Preventing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour 11
Investigating crime 14
Protecting vulnerable people 14
Tackling serious and organised crime 19
Armed policing 19
Efficiency 21
Force in context 22
How efficiently does the force operate and how sustainable are its services? 23
Summary 23
Meeting current demands and using resources 24
Planning for the future 31
Legitimacy 37
Force in context 38
How legitimately does the force treat the public and its workforce? 40
Summary 40
Treating the public fairly 41
Ethical and lawful workforce behaviour 41
Treating the workforce fairly 44
Annex A – About the data 49
i
What this report contains
This report is structured in four parts:
1. Our overall assessment of the force’s 2018/19 performance.
2. Our judgments and summaries of how effectively, efficiently and legitimately the
force keeps people safe and reduces crime.
3. Our judgments and any areas for improvement and causes of concern for each
component of our inspection.
4. Our detailed findings for each component.
Our inspection approach
In 2018/19, we adopted an integrated PEEL assessment (IPA) approach to
our existing PEEL (police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy) inspections.
IPA combines into a single inspection the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy
areas of PEEL. These areas had previously been inspected separately each year.
As well as our inspection findings, our assessment is informed by our analysis of:
• force data and management statements;
• risks to the public;
• progress since previous inspections;
• findings from our non-PEEL inspections;
• how forces tackle serious and organised crime locally and regionally; and
• our regular monitoring work.
We inspected all forces in four areas:
• protecting vulnerable people;
• firearms capability;
• planning for the future; and
• ethical and lawful workforce behaviour.
We consider the risk to the public in these areas important enough to inspect all forces
every year.
We extended the risk-based approach that we used in our 2017 effectiveness
inspection to the efficiency and legitimacy parts of our IPA inspections. This means
that in 2018/19 we didn’t inspect all forces against all areas. The table below shows
the areas we inspected Nottinghamshire Police against.
1IPA area Inspected in 2018/19?
Preventing crime and anti-social behaviour Yes
Investigating crime No
Protecting vulnerable people Yes
Tackling serious and organised crime No
Firearms capability Yes
Meeting current demands Yes
Planning for the future Yes
Treating the public fairly No
Ethical and lawful workforce behaviour Yes
Treating the workforce fairly Yes
Our 2017 judgments are still in place for the areas we didn’t inspect in 2018/19.
2Force in context 3
Overall summary
Effectiveness Last
Good inspected
Preventing crime and tackling
2018/19
anti-social behaviour
Requires improvement
Investigating crime 2016
Good
Protecting vulnerable people 2018/19
Good
Tackling serious and organised
2016
crime
Good
Armed response capability Ungraded 2018/19
Last
Efficiency inspected
Requires improvement
Meeting current demands and
2018/19
using resources
Requires improvement
Planning for the future 2018/19
Requires improvement
4Legitimacy Last
Good inspected
Fair treatment of the public 2017
Good
Ethical and lawful workforce
2018/19
behaviour
Good
Fair treatment of the workforce 2018/19
Requires improvement
5HM Inspector’s observations
I am satisfied with most aspects of Nottinghamshire Police’s performance in keeping
people safe and reducing crime. However, the force needs to continue to improve its
efficiency in order to provide a consistently good service.
The force investigates crime well. I am particularly pleased that it has improved how it
identifies and responds to vulnerable people and works effectively with other agencies
to protect them.
The force’s understanding of its demand is improving. I am encouraged that this will
allow the force to plan for the future more clearly, to make sure it uses its resources as
efficiently as possible. But I have some concerns about the force’s decision to
withdraw from collaborations with other forces in the region. This may limit its ability to
achieve maximum efficiency.
Senior leaders continue to uphold an ethical culture and promote standards of
behaviour well. But the force needs to improve how it deals with potential unfairness at
work and how it looks after its workforce.
I am encouraged by the progress that Nottinghamshire Police has made over the
past year. I am confident that the force will continue to make improvements in the
year ahead.
Zoë Billingham
HM Inspector of Constabulary
6Effectiveness 7
Force in context 8
9
How effectively does the force reduce
crime and keep people safe?
Good
Summary
Nottinghamshire Police is good at reducing crime and keeping people safe. It is good
at protecting people who are vulnerable. But it needs to improve how it prevents crime
and deals with anti-social behaviour.
The force needs to get a better understanding of its local communities. It also needs to
improve how it assesses and shares good ways of working. It should talk to the public
more when it sets its priorities. It should also update them following consultation. But it
works well with other organisations to solve problems, and protect and support
vulnerable people.
The force has a new policing model that’s neighbourhood-based. It has recruited more
officers to help with demand and is planning more training for local teams. It should
try not to move neighbourhood staff to help in other areas, as this makes it harder
for them to deal with local problems. It isn’t easy for it to understand which
problem-solving methods work best, as it doesn’t always record results. This could
lead to different levels of service.
Nottinghamshire Police is good at spotting vulnerable people when they first contact
the force. It has got better at responding to them. But it should improve how it
responds to incidents that are less urgent, so that officers can assess if someone is
vulnerable more quickly. Officers and staff treat vulnerable people well. The force
regularly gets feedback from vulnerable victims to help it improve its approach.
This includes those who don’t support police action. The force makes good use of its
powers to protect people. Officers and staff are good at assessing risk at domestic
abuse incidents and respond well to people with mental health problems.
In 2017, we judged Nottinghamshire Police as good at investigating crime and at
tackling serious and organised crime.
10Preventing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour
Requires improvement
Nottinghamshire Police needs to improve how it prevents crime and deals with
anti-social behaviour. In 2017, we asked the force to get a better understanding
of its local communities. We also asked it to evaluate and share good practice
more routinely. Since that time, it hasn’t made enough progress in these areas.
The force has a new policing model, but it’s too early for us to tell how good this is.
It sometimes moves neighbourhood officers and staff into other policing roles.
This makes it harder for them to deal with local problems. The force has recruited
more police officers to help deal with demand. It is planning to provide better training
for its local teams.
Nottinghamshire Police works well with other public sector organisations to tackle
complex problems and support vulnerable people. But the force should consult the
public more when it comes to deciding its priorities and should use this information to
help it plan its services. It should also get better at updating the public about the
results of consultation.
The force uses a variety of local problem-solving approaches, but it doesn’t
consistently record the results. Local differences can lead to different levels of service.
It is difficult for the force to understand which approaches work best.
The force has reduced its use of anti-social behaviour powers. It doesn’t fully
understand why this has happened or whether this change is positive. It is planning to
research this further.
Areas for improvement
• The force should work with local people to improve its understanding of local
communities and show the action it has taken to address their concerns.
• The force should evaluate and share effective practice routinely, both
internally and with other organisations, to improve its prevention of crime and
anti-social behaviour.
We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the
force’s performance in this area.
11Prioritising crime prevention
Nottinghamshire Police requires improvement in the way it prioritises
crime prevention. The force changed its policing model in April 2018. Previously, its
leaders were each responsible for specific business areas, whereas now they take
responsibility for geographic areas: the city area and the county area. Each area
is led by a superintendent. This model is becoming more established and staff
support the new approach. In our 2017 effectiveness report, we said the force
was good at preventing crime. But we asked it to improve in two areas: to
improve its understanding of local communities, and evaluate and share effective
practice routinely. The force has made minimal progress in these areas. As a result,
the same areas for improvement are in this report.
The force recognises this and has renewed its focus on neighbourhood policing. It has
adopted a new neighbourhood policing strategy based on the College of Policing’s
neighbourhood policing guidance. The force has launched the strategy and appointed
leads for the main areas. However, it is too early to assess how this may improve
its approach. The force needs to communicate the plan across the organisation.
During the inspection, officers and staff spoken to couldn’t explain to us the force’s
vision for neighbourhood policing.
The force occasionally moves neighbourhood officers and staff from their main roles,
on both a planned and reactive basis. It is unable to quantify the scale and effect of
this on crime prevention activity. The need to take these officers away from their roles
to support other police work hinders how effectively neighbourhood teams can tackle
problems and prevent crime and anti-social behaviour. This means that the force
sometimes relies on partner organisations to assist with preventative problem solving
while it addresses more high-risk areas of demand. To create additional capacity, the
force has increased police officer numbers by 80 (from 1,860 to 1,940 full-time
equivalent posts). However, it has yet to achieve the full benefit of this investment, as
officers undergo training before working independently.
The force recruits volunteers into a variety of roles such as neighbourhood watch
schemes, cycle marking and student crime prevention. It does this well through
its ‘citizens in policing’ programme. The Special Constabulary and cadets are
also involved in some prevention activity and community projects. The force
plans to increase its number of volunteers in support of its renewed focus on
neighbourhood policing.
Training for neighbourhood teams is inconsistent across the force. It provides new
recruits with induction training that adequately covers the skills needed to conduct
effective crime prevention activity. However, the training for existing neighbourhood
teams is variable. Some teams receive four training days per year alongside partner
organisations, in addition to mandatory personal protection training. Others undertake
mandatory personal protection training only. The force has undertaken a review. It has
a good understanding of the training needed to give neighbourhood teams the right
skills to provide a good level of service to the public. The training plan forms part of
the revised neighbourhood policing strategy, which will develop this area in the future.
12Protecting the public from crime
The force has some understanding of the threats facing its communities. It has
well-established arrangements in place to work with public sector partners such
as adult and children’s social care, and joint working is commonplace. The force
adopts a multi-agency problem-solving approach to complex issues. Examples include
the ‘vulnerable persons panel’ covering county areas and the ‘complex persons
panel’ covering city areas. These panels bring together representatives of the
main organisations. They work together to provide a better service to support
vulnerable individuals, where traditional policing methods aren’t working.
However, there is a mixed picture of how much involvement communities have in
setting local neighbourhood priorities. While some areas have active neighbourhood
panels, we found that in most neighbourhoods the police determine the priorities after
only limited consultation with partners and the public. The recent ‘police and crime
needs’ survey provides a valuable insight into what the public’s priorities are.
However, during the inspection we didn’t find any neighbourhood teams that had used
this information to plan or provide services. The knowledge that beat managers and
police community support officers (PCSOs) have of the priorities that are relevant to
them is also limited. This may mean that neighbourhood teams aren’t as informed as
they could be regarding the issues that matter most to the community.
The ‘police and crime needs’ survey is evidence of some progress in gaining a better
understanding of communities and their concerns. But the force has yet to use this
information to change the way it plans and provides services. There remains an
inconsistent approach to giving feedback to communities on the action the force has
taken, the results it has achieved and how the community can become more involved
in solving problems. During 2018, we commissioned research into the public’s
perceptions of their local police across England and Wales. Encouragingly, the
findings for Nottinghamshire Police indicated that, although it doesn’t always engage
communities in setting its priorities, it deals with what matters to them. The force could
further enhance this.
The force employs local problem-solving tactics with public sector partners,
such as education and substance misuse teams. It tends to base these on
professional judgment rather than a systematic and evidence-led approach.
Most neighbourhood-team leaders are aware of the OSARA (outcomes, scanning,
analysis, response and assessment) problem-solving model. But beat managers
and PCSOs are less aware of it. Neighbourhood teams use a variety of approaches
to resolve anti-social behaviour cases, but there is no consistent method of
recording activity. Some areas routinely use a shared online system accessible by
partner organisations, while others use police systems. The lack of a clearly defined
approach can lead to an inconsistent level of service for victims across the force.
It also means the force may be losing opportunities to evaluate the outcomes of
different approaches and learn from what works. During the inspection, we found that
the supervision of problem-solving plans is variable across the force. It expects its new
neighbourhood policing strategy to improve this in the coming months.
Nottinghamshire Police is generally in line with the England and Wales overall
recorded levels of anti-social behaviour incidents. The force continues to make use of
all available anti-social behaviour powers. These include civil injunctions and criminal
13behaviour orders. However, the data indicates a reduction in the use of anti-social
behaviour powers from 443 per 1m population in the year to 30 June 2017 to 51
per 1m population in the year to September 2018. Neighbourhood teams don’t
clearly understand the reasons for this reduction. The decline may be due to the
increased involvement of local authority community protection teams in managing
anti-social behaviour. The force has yet to explore whether the reduced use of
anti-social behaviour powers has made it less effective. Its current focus is on
analysing other areas of operational activity. Without this understanding, the force
can’t be confident that it is using its resources effectively. The force recognises this
gap and has recently approved the recruitment of analytical researchers to support
neighbourhood policing teams.
In our 2017 effectiveness report, we identified that the force needed to improve
its approach to crime prevention and anti-social behaviour. We said that it
should evaluate and share effective practice routinely, both internally and with
other organisations. The force uses a variety of tactics to prevent crime and anti-social
behaviour, including crime prevention staff discussing good practice in online forums.
However, it has made only modest progress in evaluating and extending this learning
more widely. It doesn’t routinely record or assess learning across the force, except
when large-scale initiatives happen. This would help it improve its approach to
preventing crime and anti-social behaviour.
Investigating crime
Good
This question was not subject to inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the
2016 effectiveness inspection has been carried over.
Protecting vulnerable people
Good
Nottinghamshire Police is good at protecting people who are vulnerable. Officers and
staff treat vulnerable people well. The force works with its partner organisations to
understand people in the area who might be vulnerable.
The force is good at identifying vulnerable people when they first make contact and
has good systems to do this. It responds well to incidents that are a priority. But it isn’t
as good at getting to less urgent incidents. This may mean it isn’t addressing
vulnerability as quickly as it could.
In 2017, we asked the force to get better at responding to incidents involving
vulnerable people. It has now done this. It regularly gets feedback from vulnerable
victims, including those who do not support police action. It uses the information
to make its services better. Officers and staff are good at assessing risk at
14domestic abuse incidents. The force works closely with other organisations to protect
vulnerable victims. It makes good use of its protective powers to do this. It also
has good processes that help its officers respond well to people who have mental
health problems.
The force is changing the way it manages registered sex offenders (RSOs). This is to
follow national guidance. Specially trained officers will have more time to focus on
higher-risk offenders. The force may wish to review how it manages people who
breach court orders.
The force’s online investigation team can’t deal with all the cases it receives
about children. The force is addressing this problem.
We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the
force’s performance in this area.
Area for improvement
• The force should ensure that a DASH risk assessment is carried out for all
domestic abuse incidents to reflect the force policy change.
We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the
force’s performance in this area.
Understanding and identifying vulnerability
Nottinghamshire Police has a clear strategy for, and definition of, vulnerability.
It communicates this effectively to its workforce. Officers and staff demonstrate
that they understand how to identify and protect those who are vulnerable.
They consistently treat vulnerable people well. This includes victims of human
trafficking and domestic abuse and people with mental health conditions.
The force has a good understanding of the nature and scale of vulnerability. It works
with partner organisations responsible for health, and adult and child safeguarding.
Together they use and share data to develop a deeper understanding. The force
has recently updated its analysis of child sexual exploitation across Nottinghamshire.
This now includes data from partner organisations.
Officers and staff take proactive steps to reveal hidden forms of child
sexual exploitation. The force works with interested parties, such as children’s
services, youth justice and education, to prevent and reduce instances of children at
risk of exploitation. The force assesses the risk, allocates actions to the most
appropriate agency and monitors progress using a multi-agency tool which records
activity that aims to divert children from risky situations. The force has introduced
informal meetings to offer support and advice to victims and encourage them to report
stalking and harassment at the earliest opportunity.
The force is good at identifying vulnerable people when they first contact the police.
Control room staff apply clearly identifiable markers to force systems to highlight
repeat victims, victims of domestic abuse and people with mental health conditions.
This means, if they call again, the system will highlight their vulnerability and help
15to ensure the force provides the right response. The force has invested in
training and mentoring for call handlers, who consistently use the THRIVE model of
risk assessment. Staff record threat, risk and harm in more detail to ensure accuracy
and consistency. This improved assessment of risk means that the force can
determine its initial response to incidents more effectively.
Responding to incidents
Nottinghamshire Police attends incidents promptly where it has identified vulnerability
during the initial call. However, where call handlers grade incidents as not requiring
a priority response, the force isn’t always able to respond within 24 hours. The force
is aware of this problem and has increased overall officer numbers to create
additional capacity. The contact resolution and incident management unit helps deal
with the work within the control room. Where appropriate, in agreement with the caller,
staff make appointments for police to attend later. Local policing supervisors oversee
these appointments, rather than the control room, and sometimes they don’t give
them priority. We found that this recent change in working practices has resulted in
delays in attending appointments. This may mean the force isn’t addressing aspects of
vulnerability promptly.
In our 2017 effectiveness report, we said that the force should improve its response
to incidents involving vulnerable people, particularly victims of domestic abuse.
Since last year, it has put better processes in place. These make sure officers
attend domestic abuse incidents more promptly, with scrutiny provided at daily
management meetings. The police approach is good, with vulnerable people –
particularly victims of domestic abuse and those with mental health conditions –
receiving a good service. We found examples of early identification in the control room
and in the review of case files.
When attending incidents, officers and staff use a structured process to assess risk to
victims and other vulnerable people in the household. The force now uses electronic
domestic abuse, stalking and harassment (DASH) risk assessments. In our 2017
effectiveness report, the force data showed that the force submitted fewer risk
assessments than other forces for the level of domestic abuse reported. This meant
that the force may be missing opportunities to properly assess risk, and therefore
safeguard some vulnerable victims. In July 2018, it made the completion of
DASH mandatory for all domestic abuse reported, resulting in an increase in the
number completed. However, the 2017/18 data shows that the force completed a risk
assessment in only 32 percent of domestic abuse incidents, but for every reported
domestic abuse crime. The force is actively monitoring compliance.
This will remain an area for improvement. During this inspection, we found good
examples of effective safety planning. These included recording details of children
who live at the household – whether or not they were present at the time of the
incident – to assess wider safeguarding needs. Officers and staff clearly understand
that it is their responsibility to identify these children and make referrals to other
agencies for assessment and support. Staff in the multi-agency safeguarding hub
(MASH) review the risk assessments to provide consistency and accuracy.
The independent domestic abuse advisers (IDVAs) provide an additional level of
scrutiny to this process.
16The force is effective at protecting victims of domestic abuse. Attendance is a priority.
The force grades over 90 percent of the domestic abuse incidents it attends as an
emergency or priority. Our inspection found that it doesn’t generally deal with domestic
abuse victims over the telephone. The data shows that it does this less than the
England and Wales rate. The force makes an arrest in around 27 percent of domestic
abuse incidents, compared to the England and Wales rate of 32 percent. Its rate of
offenders that were charged or summonsed for domestic abuse crimes in 2017/18
was 17 percent. This is slightly higher than the rate for all forces in England and
Wales. It means that the force is pursuing perpetrators of domestic abuse well.
The force has a mental health triage process, which officers, staff and other
agencies view positively. Two mental health street-triage cars operate from 4.00pm to
1.00am daily. A police officer and mental health professional in each car cover the
force area, providing advice and responding effectively to vulnerable people with
mental health concerns. Outside these hours, there are good links to professionals
who provide mental health advice, and officers can call them directly when required.
Awareness of mental health conditions among frontline officers and staff is good.
There is regular training, with the involvement of mental health partners. The force
works closely with mental health partners and contributes to the mental health crisis
care concordat board to ensure a shared approach to people in crisis. There are plans
to evaluate the mental health triage process within the next 12 months. The force’s
own monitoring of the street triage process indicates that 4,000 incidents in the 12
months to January 2018 were deployed to, which equates to 48 percent of incidents
where a mental health issue is identified.
Supporting vulnerable victims
Neighbourhood teams are involved in the continuing safeguarding of
vulnerable victims. This includes children at risk of sexual exploitation, those with
mental health conditions and repeat victims of domestic abuse. However, as
described earlier, the force occasionally takes neighbourhood officers and staff away
from their primary role, to support other police work. It isn’t able to quantify what effect
this may have on how well it safeguards vulnerable people.
Nottinghamshire Police makes good use of available protective powers and measures
to safeguard vulnerable victims. The number of domestic violence protection orders
(DVPOs) granted has increased from 41 in 12 months to end of June 2017 to 90 in the
12 months to end of June 2018. Officers and staff have a well-developed and growing
understanding of the value the orders provide in protecting victims. The force deals
with breaches of DVPOs promptly to give victims this protection.
The force works with a range of partner organisations such as education, probation,
health and children’s services. This is to make sure safeguarding arrangements are in
place for vulnerable people. There are two MASHs: one covering the city area and the
other the county area. Multi-agency safeguarding arrangements are comprehensive
and accessible, with good sharing of information with partners at all levels. The force
contributes well to both the city and county MASHs, despite them having different
operating systems that reflect local authority working practices.
The multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC) processes are effective.
Each statutory agency takes responsibility for chairing the meeting on a
17six-monthly basis. This shared-chairing arrangement ensures all partners fully engage
with safeguarding vulnerable victims. The force and its partners refer all high-risk
cases to a MARAC. IDVAs also review medium-risk cases and, where necessary,
regrade them to high and refer them to a MARAC. MARACs take place every two
weeks at city, north and south areas, with cases discussed within 10 to 14 days.
There is an equal split of referrals from partner organisations and police. The force
attends a regional MARAC steering group that reviews processes to explore new
ideas and innovative practice.
The force regularly seeks and uses feedback from vulnerable victims and service
users to improve services. In our 2017 effectiveness report, we said that the force
needed to ensure that its process to obtain feedback from victims of domestic abuse
included those victims who do not support police action. In response, the force now
conducts surveys of all domestic abuse and rape victims whether the victim is
supporting a prosecution or not. The research and insight team runs the survey
and achieves a high response rate. All feedback obtained is used by the force
to continuously improve its service to vulnerable victims. It sends positive
comments directly to the officer or staff member dealing with the victim. It forwards
less-favourable comments to supervisors, who review the case to see what action
is required. The force has also introduced this approach in relation to Clare’s Law
applications, to gain feedback on timeliness of completion from application to
disclosure; the satisfaction level of the applicant; and an understanding of whether or
not the disclosure made any difference to the applicant.
The force’s processes are designed to manage the risk posed to the public by RSOs
living in the area. The management of RSOs remains challenging for the force, due to
their increasing numbers. At the time of the inspection, there was a backlog of 107
visits outstanding to medium and low-risk RSOs. The force is in the process of
adopting a risk-based approach in line with national guidance, and plans to stop
the annual visit to 500 low-risk RSOs. These individuals will be risk-assessed and
subject to a yearly desktop review. Officers will not actively engage with them
unless any intelligence or incident triggers a reassessment. The force intends to
ensure neighbourhood teams are fully aware of the location of all low-risk RSOs in
their areas. There remains a low risk to the public. However, the national practice
of reactive risk management already allows forces to manage RSOs remotely on a
case-by-case basis, on the authorisation of the head of department. The approach
also ensures that specialist officers have more time to devote to the management of
higher-risk offenders who pose the greatest threat to the public.
The force has access to specialist software to identify those who share indecent
images of children online, and has introduced additional tools to tackle online
crimes against children. This has resulted in an increase in the number of notifications
it receives from both systems. This means that the force may be dealing with
some cases without officers being aware of the full facts. This is a risk to the force’s
integrity and affects the safeguarding of children, as cases on these systems may
be higher-risk. The force is responding to referrals from the National Crime Agency,
but this should not be at the expense of notifications received from its own software.
The force is aware of this and is actively seeking solutions that include the addition of
staff on short-term contracts.
18The force routinely uses court orders to protect the public from dangerous and
sexual offenders. The force reports that local courts issued 105 sexual harm
prevention orders in the year to 31 March 2018. Nine of these orders were
subsequently breached. The force actively manages breaches. It may wish to review
this, to understand whether it is taking enforcement action with all breaches. The force
should confirm that it has the necessary arrangements in place.
Tackling serious and organised crime
Good
This question was not subject to inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the
2016 effectiveness inspection has been carried over.
Armed policing
We have previously inspected how well forces provide armed policing. This formed
part of our 2016 and 2017 effectiveness inspections. Subsequent terrorist attacks in
the UK and Europe have meant that the police service maintains a focus on armed
capability in England and Wales.
It is not just terrorist attacks that place operational demands on armed officers.
The threat can include the activity of organised crime groups or armed street gangs
and all other crime involving guns. The Code of Practice on the Police Use of Firearms
and Less Lethal Weapons makes forces responsible for implementing national
standards of armed policing. The code stipulates that a chief officer be designated to
oversee these standards. This requires the chief officer to set out the firearms threat in
an armed policing strategic threat and risk assessment (APSTRA). The chief officer
must also set out clear rationales for the number of armed officers (armed capacity)
and the level to which they are trained (armed capability).
Understanding the threat and responding to it
The force has a good understanding of the potential harm facing the public.
Its APSTRA conforms to the requirements of the code and the College of
Policing guidance. The APSTRA is published annually and is accompanied by a
register of risks and other observations. The designated chief officer reviews the
register frequently to maintain the right levels of armed capability and capacity.
The force also has a good understanding of the armed criminals who operate in
Nottinghamshire and neighbouring force areas. Nottinghamshire Police is alert to the
likelihood of terrorist attacks and has identified venues that may require additional
protection in times of heightened threat.
All armed officers in England and Wales are trained to national standards. There are
different standards for each role that armed officers perform. The majority of armed
incidents in Nottinghamshire are attended by officers trained to an armed response
vehicle (ARV) standard. The force has sufficient ARV capability. However, we noted
that, as an interim measure, it is adjusting shift patterns and paying overtime to
19ensure enough ARV officers are available. In time, this will be addressed through
recruitment programmes.
Incidents sometimes occur that require the skills and specialist capabilities of more
highly trained officers. Until recently, Nottinghamshire Police had collaborative
arrangements in place with Leicestershire Police, Northamptonshire Police
and Lincolnshire Police to provide specialist officers for deployment in the East
Midlands region.
Nottinghamshire Police has recently withdrawn from these arrangements and will
become dependent on its own armed capabilities. Agreements remain in place to seek
the assistance of neighbouring forces when specialist capabilities are required.
Working with others
It is important that effective joint working arrangements are in place between
neighbouring forces. Armed criminals and terrorists have no respect for
county boundaries. As a consequence, armed officers must be prepared to deploy
flexibly in the knowledge that they can work seamlessly with officers in other forces.
It is also important that any one force can call on support from surrounding forces in
times of heightened threat.
The withdrawal of Nottinghamshire Police from these joint working arrangements
means there is less certainty of specialist capability being available in the region.
We are also aware that Derbyshire Constabulary operates independently from other
forces in the region. This will be of interest to us when we next visit the constabulary.
We expect all forces in the East Midlands to work closely together to ensure that
sufficient specialist capabilities are available to protect communities in the region.
We also examined how well prepared forces are to respond to threats and risks.
Armed officers in Nottinghamshire Police are trained in tactics that take account of
the types of recent terrorist attacks. Also, Nottinghamshire Police has an important
role in designing training exercises with other organisations that simulate these types
of attack. We found that these training exercises are reviewed carefully so that
learning points are identified and improvements are made for the future.
In addition to debriefing training exercises, we also found that Nottinghamshire Police
reviews the outcome of all firearms incidents that officers attend. This helps ensure
that best practice or areas for improvement are identified. We also found that this
knowledge is used to improve training and operational procedures.
20Efficiency 21
Force in context 22
How efficiently does the force operate and
how sustainable are its services?
Requires improvement
Summary
Nottinghamshire Police needs to improve how efficiently it operates and the
sustainability of its services to the public. It needs to improve how it meets current
demands and uses its resources and how it plans for the future.
The force needs to get a better understanding of demand. It is getting better at
assessing future demand, but needs to understand how demand is changing. It also
needs to use more partnership data for this. It works with a range of organisations,
which helps them all use their resources more effectively and provide better services.
But it needs to understand the effect that pressures on other organisations have on its
own demand. It has decided to come out of one collaboration, but it isn’t clear if this is
a good decision. The force needs to review its systems to make sure they don’t
accidentally hide demand or introduce delays. Planned recruitment of more officers
will help it manage demand.
The force has good financial plans. It has linked these to its workforce plan
and the priorities of the police and crime commissioner (PCC). It willingly tries
new approaches. The new neighbourhood-based force structure will make police
officers more visible and help with partnership working. The force should have a
plan for using ICT to support its needs. It should check that it is getting the benefits of
changes it makes and ensure it monitors how it reinvests savings. The force is getting
better at understanding the skills of its workforce and how much its services cost.
But it needs to understand what skills it will need in the future and link workforce
capabilities to financial plans. The force is trying to attract new talent through external
recruitment. It is developing the skills of its leaders, but needs to find more ways to
identify and develop talent in its workforce.
23Meeting current demands and using resources
Requires improvement
Nottinghamshire Police needs to improve how it meets current demands and uses
its resources.
The force needs to understand demand better and review a wider range of data. It is
working with other organisations to improve this. Planned recruitment of more officers
will help it manage demand. It should make sure it understands people’s workloads
before increasing them.
The force is getting better at understanding that good processes help reduce demand
and make the most of resources. It is introducing systems to reduce waste, but needs
its workforce to share this approach. The force needs to review its systems to make
sure they don’t accidentally hide demand or introduce delays.
The force works with a range of organisations, which helps them all use their
resources more effectively and provide better services. But it needs to understand the
effect that pressures on other organisations has on its own demand. It has decided to
come out of one collaboration. It isn’t clear whether this is a good decision.
The force willingly tries new approaches, including better use of technology. It should
check that it is getting the benefits of changes it makes. It should also make sure
it monitors how it reinvests savings. Its financial plans are good and link to
workforce plans.
The force assesses demand before allocating resources. It is getting better at
understanding the skills of its workforce and how much its services cost. But it needs
to understand what skills it will need in the future.
Areas for improvement
• The force should ensure that its prioritisation and allocation of demand takes
full account of the risks of inadvertently suppressing demand. The force should
make sure it is fully aware of officer and staff workload allocating incidents and
deploying resource. The force needs to better understand how pressures
placed on other organisations influences its current demand.
• The force should ensure that its new governance arrangements for
managing current and future demand track benefits, including how it has
reinvested savings.
• The force should undertake appropriate activities to understand fully its
workforce’s capabilities, identify any gaps, and put plans in place to address
these gaps.
We set out our detailed findings below. These are the basis for our judgment of the
force’s performance in this area.
24Assessing current demand
Nottinghamshire Police needs to understand the demand for its services better.
The force relies mainly on its own data from force records, and analyses it to
understand fluctuations and trends in demand. The force has good links with other
public sector organisations (for example, adult and child safeguarding services) and
has started to analyse shared data. It could broaden its understanding further by
regular analysis of a wider range of data from other organisations. It needs to do more
work to have a complete understanding of current demand. The demand analysis
work in 2017 was thorough, but focused entirely on responsive demand which did not
consider differing types of police work. The force recognises this. It has trained its
business improvement team to use the demand-analysis mapping tools to extend this
work to include demand across the whole organisation.
The force continues to work with its partner organisations and victims to improve its
understanding of demand that is less obvious. This includes domestic abuse, child
exploitation and modern slavery. The force is experiencing an increase in modern
slavery offences. It has responded positively by establishing a human trafficking
multi-agency partnership board. It has also invested in a dedicated team to lead
on investigations. The team’s remit is to improve awareness, prevent offences
occurring and co-ordinate intervention. This means that the force is more likely to
provide victims with a better service in this area.
The force can reallocate resources to deal with operational pressures. It has recently
introduced police officers into the force control room. This is to help it identify the right
response at the first point of contact. It can then move resources across the force area
when necessary, to manage demand better. However, there are occasions where the
force can’t cope with the demand for service. This is particularly the case in the control
room and incident management team. This is leading to policing being more reactive
than proactive. Control room staff told us they couldn’t always identify officers to
attend incidents. Many officers spoke of unrelenting demand and the difficulties
of prioritising equally important areas of work such as incident attendance and
crime investigation. In response, the force intends to deploy some of its 80 additional
police officers to create some capacity in responding and ease this pressure.
Once these officers are operational, the force will assign them to uniformed response,
neighbourhood and public protection investigation teams.
Understanding factors that influence demand
The force is getting better at understanding how efficient working practices can reduce
demand and make better use of scarce resources. The chief officer team has invested
in resources to support the control room. This is to help staff record crime accurately
within national guidance, to prevent duplication and repetition later in the process.
This approach makes sure the force complies with crime recording requirements and
provides an effective service to the public of Nottinghamshire. The force has recently
given its two assistant chief constables responsibility for ‘current demand’ and
‘future demand’. This is to develop its understanding further.
Senior leaders have recognised the need to improve oversight and co-ordination of
the force’s change processes. The deputy chief constable (DCC) has recently
established the ‘futures’ programme board. This is to ensure that the change
25programme proceeds on time, to budget and to the standard required. The force
acknowledges that it could develop how well it actively identifies inefficiencies as
part of its everyday work. The annual departmental assessment process features
the removal of duplication and reduction of waste as important elements.
However, eliminating waste isn’t integral to its workforce’s routine way of thinking.
Officers and staff we spoke to weren’t able to provide examples of how the force had
used their ideas to find better ways of working. They also couldn’t describe the
process they would follow if they wanted to do so.
At present, the force can’t always be confident that its systems aren’t suppressing or
understating demand by accident. Its management of lower-risk incidents poses a risk
of this. The contact resolution and incident management unit streamlines the work
within the control room. They allocate some incidents to a scheduled appointments
team (diary car) for later attendance. Local policing supervisors oversee these
appointments alongside other demands. We found that this recent change in working
practices has resulted in delays in progressing appointments.
The force is aware of these problems. In our 2017 efficiency report, we said it should
make sure the way it prioritises and allocates demand appropriately mitigates risks.
Although there has been some progress since last year, this is still an area for
improvement and there remains more work to do.
Working with others to meet demand
Nottinghamshire Police shows it is willing to work with other organisations to make
best use of resources and provide a better service to the public. It has a good record
of well-established joint working across a range of partnerships and collaborations,
with other police forces and with local partners. For example, with the NHS, the
arrangements for mental health triage have led to people with mental health concerns
getting better access to the help they need. There are innovative examples of the
force working with local authorities in joint problem-solving patrols with council
community protection teams. These teams engage with communities and prevent
crime and anti-social behaviour.
The force is part of the five-force East Midlands collaboration of forensic services.
This involves Nottinghamshire Police, Derbyshire Constabulary, Lincolnshire Police,
Leicestershire Police and Northamptonshire Police. The collaboration provides several
services, such as a fingerprint bureau, from a purpose-built facility. This approach has
benefited the forces across a range of areas. It has improved efficiency and reduced
costs through a restructure of crime scene investigators (CSIs) and through a new
contract for an external forensic service provider. Nottinghamshire Police performs
well: it detects 11 percent of all crime attended by a CSI. This is the highest
percentage across all five regional forces.
Nottinghamshire Police has withdrawn from the East Midlands collaboration, which
covered operational support services. During our inspection in September 2018, we
did not find evidence to indicate that the force reviewed the potential effect of its
decision on the other forces in the collaboration, in terms of its long-term viability.
The force states that it now has greater control over its own specialist operational
assets, but it is too early to say that performance and value for money is better.
26We will continue to monitor as the force evaluates the benefits of withdrawing from
this collaboration.
The development of community safety hubs across the force has strengthened local
partnership work. Officers and staff from partner organisations, such as local
authorities, work together in the same office space to better manage demand.
Examples include Mansfield and Byron House in Nottingham city centre.
The approach taken by the force has improved the way in which it provides services to
the public. The community safety hubs are part of the response by the force and its
partners to cuts in public sector funding. They provide an effective way for local
policing teams to work with partners, joining forces to provide a better service to the
public in a cost-effective way.
Despite reductions in partner contributions, the force has made constructive efforts to
maintain its early intervention work to manage future demand. For example, it has
recognised the value of intervening at an early stage with children and young people
to prevent them from getting involved in crime and anti-social behaviour. It has
prioritised the investment of early intervention police officers in all secondary schools.
This shows that the force will take measures to help reduce the negative
consequences of austerity and increased demand across all sectors of the
public services.
Innovation and new opportunities
The force seeks out innovation and new opportunities for service improvement.
Examples include:
• the introduction of new officers following initial training direct into public protection
areas of work to alleviate demand; and
• the creation of a child sexual exploitation disruption team, which uses special
constables to safeguard potential victims, patrol well-known areas, and
target perpetrators.
Leaders in Nottinghamshire Police listen to the workforce and encourage ideas
and suggestions. The force encourages officers to put forward ideas, for example
to improve wellbeing. However, officers and staff told us they weren’t sure whether
the scheme was still operating. The force may wish to re-invigorate and publicise
the scheme.
The force works with academia to look for new ideas and best practice. It is working
with Nottingham Trent University to better understand why it records a higher number
of alcohol-related incidents, 101 and 999 calls compared with the England and
Wales average. It is awaiting the outcome of this work. Previous academic studies
focused on the behaviour of repeat callers and the demand created by mental
health-related work.
Investment and benefits
In our 2017 efficiency report, we said the force should strengthen its governance
processes to help it understand and achieve the benefits of change programmes.
It has made some progress in addressing this and has evaluated some of the
change projects.
27Those it has evaluated include an assessment of the outcomes and the
savings anticipated. It has commissioned the University of Derby to independently
evaluate the benefits of the force’s implementation of body-worn video cameras.
This is due by the end of 2018. However, the force still hasn’t evaluated the benefits of
all its improvement projects and investments. This means it can’t yet assure itself that
it is achieving the expected benefits. For example, it has made a significant
investment in providing mobile data terminals for frontline staff. These handheld
devices record, send and receive police information, such as stop and search forms.
To date, the force is unable to provide comprehensive details on the cashable savings
achieved by changes such as improved officer productivity.
Overall, the force can demonstrate some financial and non-financial benefits
from some of its change projects and expects to be able to do more of this in the
coming months. This will include the recently agreed replacement command and
control system, SAFE (situational awareness for enhanced security), which aims to
increase efficiency by improving the ways the public can contact police, and how the
force manages its resources and dispatches officers and staff. The DCC has
established improved oversight processes to support this.
Prioritising different types of demand
For the most part, Nottinghamshire Police prioritises its activity based on its limited
understanding of demand supported by local priorities, national requirements and
public expectations. It has done some work to better understand the skills and
capabilities it needs now and in the future, but is still developing this work.
There are occasions when the force struggles to meet the demand it faces in
important areas such as crime investigation and incident management. It designates
a senior officer to assess demand and operational pressures on a 24-hour basis.
This officer has the authority to direct officers to be deployed anywhere across the
force to manage high-profile incidents or exceptional demand. Should incident queues
in the control room build up to unacceptable levels the force can and does deploy
officers from all areas of the force to clear these backlogs. Supervisors in the control
room monitor incidents and will re-grade them if the circumstances change and this is
required. Dispatchers constantly assess incidents that are awaiting officer attendance.
It is clear that staff in the control room focus on keeping victims safe and they work
hard to achieve this.
The force developed a new neighbourhood-policing model, following detailed
analysis of response demand. It introduced the new model in April 2018. The force
has an established approach to understanding local demand, which uses
numbers of incidents, crimes and anti-social behaviour to determine the level of
resources allocated. Building on this method, it included crime-severity considerations
to differentiate between visible crime, such as criminal damage, and hidden crime,
such as sexual offences. It has allocated its resources according to this analysis.
This ensures that there is the right level of resource across neighbourhood policing, to
have the greatest effect on all crime.
28Assigning resources to demand and understanding their costs
The force is continuing to develop its understanding of the costs of its services.
During 2017, the chief officer team introduced an annual priority-based budgeting
exercise led by departmental leads. This helps the force to vary resourcing levels by
understanding the effect this has on the service it provides. It enhances this process
by analysing specific areas in more detail, known as ‘deep dive’ reviews.
During 2016/17, the number of police officers and staff leaving the organisation was
higher than expected. This resulted in the force achieving its savings target as well as
underspending its budget. However, the reduction led to significant pressures on
uniformed response and neighbourhood teams. In March 2017, the chief constable
decided to restart the recruitment of officers, as future police funding was more stable.
The PCC increased the council tax precept for policing in 2018/19, which allowed the
force to increase its officer numbers from 1,860 to 1,940. The force management
board oversees this increase and the overall movement of officers and staff from one
part of the force to another. Chief officers chair this board, which decides where best
to distribute resources across the force, in order to maintain performance. This means
that the force can be sure it is using its resources in line with its priorities.
Nottinghamshire Police recorded an 11 percent increase in recorded crime in the year
to 30 September 2018, compared to the year to 30 September 2017. The force is
managing this by dealing with more investigations via desktop review. For the 12
months to 30 September 2018, it completed 52 percent of its crime investigations
entirely over the phone. This is above the England and Wales rate of 37 percent.
The force uses the THRIVE process to assess the type of response required, before
allocating incidents for telephone resolution. We assessed several of its telephone
investigations and found that they were an appropriate response. The investigations
themselves were of a good quality.
Workforce capabilities
In our 2017 efficiency report, we said that Nottinghamshire Police needed to
understand fully its workforce’s capabilities, to identify any gaps, and put plans in
place to address them. It has made progress in addressing this, but there is room
for improvement.
The force has a limited but improving understanding of the skills it needs. It doesn’t yet
have a full understanding of the skills of its workforce or its leaders, beyond tactical
and operational elements such as officer safety and driver training. It doesn’t
understand how the skills needed will change in the future. The force acknowledges
that its understanding isn’t yet sophisticated enough to make sure it is making the best
use of the skills its workforce has. For example, it could make better use of the skills
that graduates bring to the organisation, such as strong ICT, language or social media
marketing skills.
This means the force can’t fully identify the skills gaps that it needs to fill, through
either recruitment or training. It has formed a strategic workforce planning and training
priorities panel to progress this. There has been no effort to record wider skills or
character traits that the force could better use, or academic qualifications and
transferable skills from prior occupations.
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